* AstraZeneca tops FTSE 100 on Russian vaccine deal
* Focus turns to quarterly earnings updates
* Burberry underperforms FTSE 100 peers for the week
(Adds graphic, updates to close)
By Shashank Nayar and Ambar Warrick
July 17 (Reuters) - The FTSE 100 rebounded from early losses
on Friday to snap a three-week losing streak as growing hopes
for a coronavirus vaccine pushed up the healthcare sector.
The blue-chip FTSE 100 .FTSE ended up 0.6%, bolstered
chiefly by AstraZeneca AZN.L amid anticipation of a deal with
Russia to manufacture a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by the
drugmaker and Oxford University. AstraZeneca had pushed up the FTSE 100 through the week on
optimism over the development of its COVID-19 vaccine. The
bluechip index added 3.2% for the week.
The mid-cap FTMC .FTMC ended up 0.2% for the day, coming
off early losses after Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey
said that Britain's economy was starting to recover from its
coronavirus lockdown. After a stock market rally powered by historic stimulus and
improving macroeconomic indicators, analysts said investors were
looking to quarterly earnings updates from marquee companies to
gauge the pace of the recovery in the latter half of this year.
"Markets have so far been rising on hope but investors right
now are more cautious and would wait for progress in corporate
numbers before they enter markets again," said Andrea Cicione,
strategist at TS Lombard.
Global miner Rio Tinto RIO.L was among the top boosts to
the FTSE 100 after posting stronger second-quarter iron ore
shipments and flagging improving Chinese demand for the
steelmaking ingredient. Improving Chinese demand has pushed up metal prices, while
weakness in the pound GBP= has helped local resource
exporters. Miner Fresnillo Plc FRES.L was the best weekly
performer on the FTSE 100, adding about 16%.
On the other hand, Burberry BRBY.L was the worst weekly
performer on the FTSE 100 after it said it would cut about 500
jobs in the face of sluggish demand for luxury goods. The stock
shed more than 5% for the week Banking major HSBC HSBA.L shed about 1.6% for the day
after Reuters reported that the bank's global equities chief
Hossein Zaimi was stepping down. <^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Weekly winners and losers on the FTSE 100 https://tmsnrt.rs/2BcViM6
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